Catan-News (Blog)http://www.catan.com/news
Catan-News: BlogenA Travel Edition&#039;s Long Road to Publicationhttp://www.catan.com/news/2015-07-09/travel-editions-long-road-publication
2011 was my first year as a Catan GmbH staff member. In the same year, our Japanese licensee launched a rectangular Catan carrying case. I immediately fell in love with the idea of a carrying case. Hence, the carrying case became my first big project, and I eagerly started working.
Kosmos still had several (thousand) sets of game pieces from the old travel edition in stock, so it seemed reasonable to use these pieces for the Japanese carrying case. However, regardless of how hard I tried to accommodate everything, the game pieces and the other game components just wouldn't fit into the Japanese carrying case.
Finally, my father laconically said, "I think it's no use trying to squeeze the components and pieces into a carrying case that is too small. We'll probably have to build a carrying case around the game components."
Although he had a point, it also meant that the idea of having a cost-efficient carrying case was basically shelved, because developing something from scratch is considerably more expensive than relying on material that is already available.
First I thought about the minimum size the game board and the game pieces should have in order to allow even big-fingered players sufficient freedom of movement.
Also, unlike in the old travel edition, one should be able to assemble the game board more easily, and the hex distribution as well as the distribution of the numbers on the hexes should be variable to a certain degree.
Then I remembered the six-piece game board setup devised by my father, first used in the beginner-friendly "Family Edition" published in 2012 in the USA.
The illustration on the right shows the first draft. The game board is assembled from 6 pieces.
And that's supposed to be variable?
It is, because each piece is printed on both sides. For example, if on one side of a piece a hills hex is blessed with a "6," on its other side the hills hex is cursed with a measly "2."
Prior to each game, the game board is assembled by joining the pieces with any of their two sides face up and in any position relative to each other. That way, the probability of producing resources varies for the different hex types; like in the original game, it may happen, for example, that ore or brick is scarce or wool is abundant.
By the way, even though as a student I had to struggle through 3 statistics courses - or maybe because of that - I haven't been able to bring myself to calculate the number of different possibilities to assemble the board that are allowed by this system. However, a statistician friend of mine told me to feel free to quote her: "Hundreds, Benny, if not thousands!" I suppose she hadn't calculated the number either … But even if the number of possibilities were a little lower, you'd still encounter a new setup each game. A lack of brick or ore? It's all doable!
Now that I had determined the game board's type and size, it was time to consult with a designer and commission a prototype.
So I got together with industrial designer Andreas Klober, whom my father once had trained as a dental technician and who, after graduation in industrial design, already had done a good job not only for us but also for Kosmos and other board game publishers. During our meetings it soon became clear that - unfortunately - we couldn't use the remaining game pieces from the old travel edition.
Andreas suggested the hexagonal shape for the carrying case, since it looked more "Catanian." "I could have figured that out myself," I thought. I was absolutely in favor of it. Andreas also developed very good concepts regarding the insertion of the game pieces and their design.
The prototype by Andreas Klober is shown on the right side. It had removable compartments for the game pieces, cards, and the 6 game board pieces.
All of us at Catan GmbH were satisfied with our development, which is why, at the beginning of 2013, we offered Kosmos our prototype for licensing.
We had expected cheering, but unfortunately there was none. Though our efforts were acknowledged, people at Kosmos weren't completely satisfied with the result. In case a car or train made an emergency stop (okay, fortunately trains don't do this very often), our version wouldn't be totally adequate. The removable compartments and their content would definitely not remain where they belonged and might create quite a chaos.
Hence it took another year, during which Kosmos's development department, with the aid of the future producer of "Catan – Traveler," looked for ways to keep all components inside the carrying case during play. The solution: four pull-out drawers the players could individually store their game pieces in. The first prototype sent to us is shown on the right. We were very pleased with the way our own prototype had been developed further. Now our Catan carrying case would even resist emergency stops made by German Railways trains.
Now only a few details had to be added. A handle was needed - after all, what's a carrying case without a handle?
However, attaching the handle directly to the carrying case wasn't advisable because it could break off,
which is why it was fixed to the game's outer packaging.
Kosmos's replacement parts department gently inquired whether something could be done to reduce the many complaints about lost dice.
People apparently roll the dice so energetically ("No '7,' please!!") that the loss of dice is a real problem. This is how the developers got the idea of including a dice shaker with transparent cover. Unfortunately, this kind of add-on isn't cheap to produce; however, now people can only lose the dice if rolling a "7" frustrates them so much that they throw the entire game out of the window of the car or train.
Eventually, almost 4 years had passed until obtaining - through the cooperation of many creative people - a Catan carrying case we all were happy with.
After my first project had been completed successfully, we asked ourselves whether the final version of the Catan carrying case should "only" be categorized as a travel edition.
We used very sophisticated tools to create a carrying case containing a sturdy game board, we have card holders and high-quality cards, a special dice shaker, an outer packaging with handle, hexes printed on both sides, etc. In the end, the product cost calculation demanded a sales price close to the base game's retail price. Can a travel edition have a price similar to that of the "original" game? A difficult question. In this case, however, we think that it can have a similar price because it is more than "just" a travel edition. It takes up less space, is very sturdy, can be set up quickly, is still highly variable, includes all rules of the base game and also a 2-player variant, and can be disassembled quickly after the game is over. It's a compact base game ideal for travel. This is why we finally called it "Catan Compact Edition – Traveler."
Benjamin TeuberThu, 09 Jul 2015 12:21:51 +0200Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2015-07-09/travel-editions-long-road-publicationStar Trek Catan: Federation Space – Exploring the Explored Galaxyhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-08-15/star-trek-catan-federation-space-exploring-explored-galaxy
As promised in our last blog post and also in the Star Trek Catan: Federation Space Almanac, we would like to provide an in-depth look into the creation of the game maps, with special emphasis on the planets and the other objects that we used, where we put them, and why.
After we had made the decision to transform the “Explored Galaxy” map, we tried to rebuild the map with hex tiles – each representing one of the listed celestial bodies – in such a way that each tile's position was as close as possible to the corresponding celestial body's original position on the “Explored Galaxy” map. When creating such a scenario map, the first question is usually: Should the hex tiles be aligned horizontally or vertically?
In our first attempt, the tips of the tiles were aligned vertically, which led to a number of “gaps.” In our second attempt, however, when we had aligned the tips horizontally, the “Explored Galaxy” map's topography fell into place much more harmoniously.
Afterwards, with a little bit of bending the “real-world” distribution of planets and systems on the map, everything was pretty much where it belonged. As a result, you will find all the celestial bodies listed on the respective Memory Alpha page occupying roughly the same positions you see them in on the original map.
The only exception is a planet that we could not use due to license issues – we couldn’t even use the planet’s name as mentioned in the TAS01x14 episode. After a bit of research, we did what others had done before: we renamed the respective planet “The Patriarchy.” If you like, you can search Memory Alpha for further information about this name. This way, the planet is where it belongs, and its name matches the name it was given in Geoffrey Mandel’s book “Star Trek Charts” published in 2002.
This book was actually one of the most valuable resources to place additional planets and objects on our map. Albeit, due to the fact that the “Explored Galaxy” map and the “Star Trek Charts” were created at different times, we encountered certain discrepancies that were hard, if not impossible, to reconcile. For example: On Geoffrey Mandel’s 2002 map, Vulcan and Andor / Andoria are close to each other, with the P’Jem monastery nearby; this is necessary for a storyline in Star Trek: Enterprise. On the old 1991 “Explored Galaxy Map,” though, Vulcan and Andor are anything but neighbors. So we were sometimes forced to use a bit of “creative interpretation” when deciding where to put planets and objects.
Planet Colors &amp; Planet Resources
Of course we tried to color the planets of our Star Trek Catan: Federation Space maps according to their original appearance on the TV show, so that they produce the kind of Star Trek Catan resources that are most likely to be available for harvesting on those planets.
You probably wouldn't hesitate to agree that
Earth has to be a blue planet,
thus producing water, while
Vulcan has to be a red planet,
thus producing tritanium ore, and
Sherman’s Planet has to be yellow,
thus producing food, i.e. Quadrotriticale.
Beyond that, we had to compromise on the colors and resources, as we had to strike a balance between what we could find in Memory Alpha and what we needed to make each of the boards balanced and playable as a Star Trek Catan expansion. So please forgive us if some of the planets have the “wrong” color.
Additional Planets
These are the eight planets that were not shown on the “Explored Galaxy” map and that we added to our Star Trek Catan: Federation Space maps:
Sherman’s Planet / Deep Space Station K-7 from “The Trouble with Tribbles”
Cestus III from “Arena”
Coridan from “Journey to Babel”
M-113 from “The Man Trap”
L-374 from “The Doomsday Machine”
Tellar from “Journey to Babel”
Miri’s Home World from “Miri”
The Gateway Planet from “The City on the Edge of Forever”
We added them because the respective episodes seemed crucial to us in the context of telling the “these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise” story. Luckily, they fit perfectly into the gaps that were present on the original “Explored Galaxy” map and, therefore, were also present on our hex map adaptation.
Let's discuss each of these planets, one by one, in decreasing order of certainty about their locations:
Sherman’s Planet is supposed to be somewhere near the Klingon Neutral Zone on Map 2. The “Explored Galaxy” map shows “Kling,” an alternate name for the Klingon home world Qo'noS, in the lower right-hand corner, which matches its position in Geoffrey Mandel’s “Star Trek Charts.” So we placed Sherman’s planet in the gap near Organia and the Klingon Neutral Zone.
Cestus III is located close to the Gorn Hegemony space. According to Geoffrey Mandel’s “Star Trek Charts,” the planet is supposed to be far below the Klingon Empire and, therefore, would not be visible anymore on our map. So we took the artistic liberty of moving it up toward the Klingon Neutral Zone, while still keeping it in the bottom right-hand corner of Map 2. Its vicinity to Sherman’s Planet, however, is nothing but the result of the fact that we had to shrink the deep space distance to accommodate the planet on our map.
Coridan was quite easy to locate: it is said to be close to Orion. Geoffrey Mandel’s “Star Trek Charts” depict it slightly to the right of and below Orion, where both the “Explored Galaxy” map and our hex Map 1 showed a gap that we could easily fill with this planet.
M-113 was a bit tougher to place. According to Memory Beta, another name for this planet is Regulus VIII. This positions the planet close to the Regulus system shown on the “Explored Galaxy” map and, thus, also on Map 1, where we conveniently had a gap to fill.
The L-374 system was attacked by the same “planet killer” (see below) as the L-370 system that had been totally destroyed by it. It is supposed to be near Rigel. We didn’t have space for it right there, but we had another gap to fill just one hex field away, in the upper left-hand corner of Map 2.
Tellar, Andor, Vulcan, and Earth originally founded the United Federation of Planets; hence, they shouldn’t be far apart from each other. But as stated before, when it comes to these core planets, the “Explored Galaxy” map differs significantly from Geoffrey Mandel’s “Star Trek Charts.” In the latter, Tellar is located close to Earth, Altair, Tau Ceti, and Alpha Centauri. Unlike Vulcan and Andor, this places Tellar on Map 2, where we had a gap to fill near Tau Ceti.
Miri’s home world doesn’t really have a verified location. However, according to Memory Beta, another name for this planet is 70 Ophiucus IV. Spelled as “70 Ophiuchi,” in Geoffrey Mandel’s “Star Trek Charts” it can clearly be located not too far from Earth, in the vicinity of Memory Alpha and Altair, which would put it on Map 2. Unfortunately, since we really didn’t have room for it on Map 2, we … well … we cheated. We spotted other celestial bodies with the name “Ophiuchi”; at least two of them can be found in the vicinity of “The Patriarchy” on Map 1 (see above). As we had a gap to fill in that area, we decided to put the planet there. … To quote Worf: “We don't discuss it with outsiders.”
We were convinced that our game should definitely include the Gateway Planet, also known as the Time Vortex Planet, and home of the “Guardian of Forever” time portal. This planet’s position is vague (if not unknown): some sources mention it as being located within the Hromi system, which according to Geoffrey Mandel’s “Star Trek Charts” is close to both the Klingon Neutral Zone and the Romulan Neutral Zone; some implicate a connection to the Romulans which might have used the “Guardian” for the purpose of time travel during their history. At this point, we made an educated guess and placed the Gateway Planet near the Romulan Neutral Zone on Map 2, where we had room for it. … To quote Spock: “Ah. Then, I will try to make the best guess I can.”
Additional Objects
As listed in the Star Trek Catan: Federation Space Almanac, we have added a few tiny objects on our maps, which should remind you of famous plot events in different episodes. We put many of these objects near the VP sites to further enhance the “storytelling” aspect of the board. There are a few others scattered around just for fun.
We added the following objects:
The Deep Space Station K-7 from “The Trouble with Tribbles.” You can see it in the lower right-hand corner of Map 2, near Sherman’s Planet (see above).
A Class-F Shuttlecraft, shown in various episodes, e.g. in “Let This Be Your Last Battlefield.” You can see it in the upper right-hand corner of Map 2, near Ariannus.
The Companion from “Metamorphosis.” You can see it in the left-hand corner of Map 1, in the region of Gamma Canaris N, near Berengaria VII.
The Nomad probe from “The Changeling.” The Enterprise was on its way to the Malurian star system in the vicinity of Regulus when it picked up Nomad. You can see it in the upper right of Map 1.
Planet Gothos from “The Squire of Gothos,” a rogue planet drifting through space. You can see it in the center of Map 1, near Beta Portolan.
The Space Amoeba from “The Immunity Syndrome.” You can see it in the lower right-hand corner of Map 2, roaming the galaxy near Organia and the Klingon Neutral Zone.
The planet killer from “The Doomsday Machine.” You can see it in the upper left-hand corner of Map 2, in the L-374 system (see above).
The Tholian Assembly from “The Tholian Web.” You can see it at the bottom of Map 1.
The Antares from “Charlie X.” You can see it on the left side of Map 2, close to Sirius.
The First Federation Buoy from “The Corbomite Maneuver.” You can see it in the upper left-hand corner of Map 1, near “First Federation.”
The SS Botany Bay from “Space Seed.” You can see it in the lower right-hand corner of Map 2, in the Mutara sector, close to Pollux IV.
The Yonada “asteroid” from “For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” originating from the destroyed Fabrina system. The remnants of Fabrina can be found in upper right-hand corner of Map 1, while you can see Yonada in the center of Map 1, close to the planet Daran V, which it was originally heading for.
We hope that you enjoyed this rather geeky behind-the-scenes look at the creation of this Star Trek Catan scenario. If we did it right, and we sincerely hope that we did, you might have as much fun visiting all those planets as Captain Kirk and his intrepid crew had during the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
Gero Zahn (with Ron Magin)Thu, 15 Aug 2013 12:48:52 +0200Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-08-15/star-trek-catan-federation-space-exploring-explored-galaxyCreating “Star Trek Catan – Federation Space”http://www.catan.com/news/2013-07-01/creating-star-trek-catan-federation-space
After Star Trek Catan was so well received, and as many of you asked us to take this joint venture of the two franchises Catan and Star Trek even further towards the “Final Frontier,” we thought long and hard about what kind of game expansion you would enjoy.
As we knew that a lot of players liked our Catan Geographies™ maps so much, which take the whole Settlers of Catan experience towards a real map to put settlements in, we thought: Let us take Star Trek Catan into a “real” region of space to put our little NCC-1701 spaceships in.
The crucial question was: Is there a region of space sufficiently “real” inside the Star Trek – The Original Series time period? After a bit of research, we discovered this wonderful map titled “The Explored Galaxy” over at the Memory Alpha wiki. As it turned out, this was “as real as it could get,” as it had been first shown hanging on a wall in none other than Captain James T. Kirk’s quarters in the Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country motion picture (and subsequently in various episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation).
Every true Star Trek fan knows that this particular map depicts a lot of the known and beloved locations shown in The Original Series of the 60s, and some of those from The Animated Series of the 70s. We took great effort to investigate and cross-reference all these depicted celestial bodies with their respective episodes. We then added a couple of planets that were not actually shown on this map but that we would really want to have in our game, and tried to pinpoint their locations according to mostly in-canon and sometimes semi-canon sources. For example, we were convinced that we absolutely needed Sherman’s Planet together with Deep Space Station K-7—we certainly couldn’t have done this without tribbles, could we? There are seven additional planets, which we will reveal in more detail in a second blog post in a few weeks from now. We will also discuss our deliberations as to where we chose to put them on our map.
The next step was to overlay the star chart with a hexagonal grid to create a Catan board. Like with our regular Catan Geographies maps, this required making a few compromises about the true real-world locations or, in this case, fictional space topography versus suitable Catan building spots. Almost immediately it became obvious that one regular sized Catan map would not be nearly big enough – so we decided to split the map in half and create two maps instead of just one. We honestly believe that the compromises we made were acceptable expenses for having all those famous planets and systems from “The Explored Galaxy” map on our two Star Trek Catan: Federation Space™ maps.
We now present you what James Tiberius Kirk himself voices over the intro of the Star Trek TV show: “These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.”
Gero Zahn — March 28, 2013
Read more in our second blog post: “Star Trek Catan – Federation Space: Exploring the Explored Galaxy”
Mon, 01 Jul 2013 12:35:43 +0200Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-07-01/creating-star-trek-catan-federation-spaceExplorers &amp; Pirates – The New Expansion for “The Settlers of Catan” – Part 7http://www.catan.com/news/2013-02-20/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-7
Part 7: Explorers &amp; Pirates
Read part 1 » / part 2 » / part 3 » / part 4 » / part 5 » / part 6 »
The fifth and last scenario bears the name of the game itself. This is so because it is the game. All scenarios described before only serve to familiarize the players, step by step, with the missions and their tactical and strategic possibilities and comfortably lead them to the last scenario, that is, to the actual game.
To play “Explorers &amp; Pirates,” you assemble the largest frame possible and include all three missions.
This results in a wide range of choices and decisions. Let's listen to the thoughts a player might have after launching a ship:
Should I use the ship to catch fish, or should I rather load it with crews to obtain the advantages bestowed by the villagers? Or maybe it is wiser to load a settler on the ship, to use him for founding a settlement in the more distant, unexplored area? If I later upgrade the settlement to a harbor settlement, I can build ships, crews, and more settlements there and thus would have to travel shorter distances. In the long run, that would be useful. But wait – Wolfgang has placed two crews on the Pirate Lair over there. I got to send a crew to that place quickly, otherwise he might take away the victory point I received for the Greatest Pirate Scourge ...
For experienced players it is certainly okay to skip the introductory scenario. However, I strongly advise against starting immediately with the final scenario, i.e., the actual game.
The first photo shows the final score of a 4-player test game of “Explorers &amp; Pirates” that took 135 minutes and ended with 17:15:14:13 victory points. The second photo shows the final score of a 3-player test game of “Explorers &amp; Pirates”; it took 100 minutes and ended with 17:16:13 victory points.
Prototype test games – click to enlarge
During the process of creating the expansion, I had developed further missions; however, they eventually didn't end up in the game box. The reason was that three missions already filled the box to the brim with game components, and additional missions would have made the game even more expensive.
One of the omitted missions was about protecting an island from a storm surge; in another, as many inhabitants of a volcanic island as possible had to be rescued by ship to save them from the lava flow; and the search for artifacts was the topic of a third omitted mission.
So, in the end, the three missions that were most well-received during the tests and also went best together were incorporated.
“Explorers &amp; Pirates” also works well as a 2-player game. In this case, trading between players largely ceases to exist, but due to the varied strategic and tactical options and the competition for the three important special victory points the fun of playing the game is hardly affected.
As part of our “Explorers &amp; Pirates” game presentation page, I address the issue of whether or not “Explorers &amp; Pirates” can be combined with the three first expansions “Seafarers”, “Cities &amp; Knights”, and “Traders &amp; Barbarians” in a way that makes sense.
Klaus TeuberWed, 20 Feb 2013 15:31:40 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-02-20/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-7Explorers &amp; Pirates – The New Expansion for “The Settlers of Catan” – Part 6http://www.catan.com/news/2013-02-14/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-6
Part 6: Spices for Catan
Read part 1 » / part 2 » / part 3 » / part 4 » / part 5 »
Logbook: “Once more, the Council of Catan sent us to an area with abundant fish stocks. We have to get fish again, but that's not all. Apparently, the fish are too bland for the Catanians on the home island. Why else are we also supposed to obtain spices now? Fortunately, people say that there are no pirates' lairs in this area ...”
This scenario includes the missions “Fish for Catan” and “Spices for Catan.” To acquire spices, the players must first discover hexes whose inhabitants harvest spices.
If you discover a spice hex, you receive 2 gold. In addition, you place as many spice sacks on the village of the spice hex as there are players in the game.
“Finally we have discovered an island whose inhabitants harvest spices. We hastily equip a crew , put him on the next available ship, and bring him to the spice island. Needless to say that this time, the crew isn't an intrepid warrior who puts the fear of God into the pirates. No, in this mission our crews are polite merchants who are so likeable that a smile on their lips is usually enough to win the villagers over.
Gaining the friendship of the villagers pays off. For one thing, they give us a spice sack, which we hurriedly load on our ship – for another, the villagers bestow certain advantages on us.
The inhabitants of two villages are experienced seafarers and help us to move our ships faster.”
The “Swift Voyage” advantage immediately increases the number of movement points of all your ships by 1. You thus may move your ship a distance of 5 instead of 4 sea routes. If you are friends with both villages marked with the “Swift Voyage” advantage, you even have 6 movement points per turn for each of your ships.
“The inhabitants of two villages have experience fighting the pirates and increase our chances to successfully drive away the pirate ship.”
One village depicts the face of a die with 5 pips, the other village depicts the face of a die with 4 pips. If you are friends with one of these two villages, you drive away an opponent's pirate ship not only by rolling a “6” but also by rolling the number depicted on the village.
“The inhabitants of two villages are experienced merchants. They buy our resources and give us gold in return.”
If you are friends with one of these two villages, once during the build and trade phase of your turn you may trade any 1 resource of your choice for 1 gold. If you are friends with both villages, you may trade 1 resource for 1 gold twice during your build and trade phase.
“And what do we give in return? We leave our merchant in the village, as a permanent representative. In exchange, until the end of our mission we enjoy the advantage the villagers bestowed on us. In addition, the villagers kindly allow us to build normal settlements and harbor settlements on the periphery of their territory.
We deliver the spice sack that we received as a welcome gift to the Council of Catan's island stronghold.
Meanwhile, two more villages have been discovered. Great – then our next ship will set sail with 2 merchants aboard. That way, by means of one single voyage we can transport two spice sacks to the Council of Catan's island stronghold.”
A victory point scoring track also exists for “Spices for Catan.” Every time you deliver a spice sack to the Council of Catan's island stronghold, you may move your marker 1 field forward. If you occupy the most advanced position on the track, you receive the victory point card “Best Spice Merchant.”
The game ends when a player reaches 15 victory points on his turn.
Klaus Teuber
Read more:Part 7 – introducing scenario 5, which bears the same name as the expansion.
Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:58:33 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-02-14/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-6Explorers &amp; Pirates – The New Expansion for “The Settlers of Catan” – Part 5http://www.catan.com/news/2013-02-06/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-5
Part 5: Fish for Catan –Why There Are No Whales on Catan
Read part 1 » / part 2 » / part 3 » / part 4 »
In this mission, the Council of Catan sends the settlers to an area with abundant fish stocks. The settlers are supposed to catch the fish and bring the haul to Catan. Fish? In times of the Middle Ages, when commercial fishing fleets weren't overfishing yet – didn't abundant fish stocks exist everywhere? Why did the Council of Catan have to send the settlers to a remote area to satisfy Catan's demand for seafood?
When I designed the mission, it wasn't fish the Council of Catan asked for. It was whales. And consequently, the mission was named “Whales for Catan.” In the Middle Ages, whale oil was a much sought-after commodity. During the long winter nights, it allowed people to illuminate their gloomy dwellings. Whales were also an important source of meat for a population suffering from frequent crop failures.
Compared with today's industrial whaling, hunting whales wasn't a cakewalk in those days. To be able to use spears and arrows to inflict a mortal wound, the medieval fishermen in their fragile boats had to get very close to their mighty prey. It wasn't uncommon for the whale to win the battle, and the sea became the whale hunters' grave. I had these images in my mind when designing the mission and creating the depicted whale piece for the wooden edition of our American licensee.
Our American licensee did not agree with this. The argument was that now there is a global ban on whaling (indigenous peoples such as the Inuit are exempted), and that a Catan game shouldn't promote whaling.
At the beginning of the modern age, particularly in the 19th and 20th century, people devised ever more sophisticated hunting methods that hardly left whales a chance to escape their fate. By then, people coveted more than just whales' oil and meat, because various other products such as margarine, soap, synthetic resin, perfume essences, vitamins, and glycerin were made from whales. Therefore, despite the ban on whaling – which unfortunately is not respected by all countries – many whale species are currently facing extinction.
I wondered – maybe most players actually don't distinguish between my medieval whaling in “Explorers &amp; Pirates” and modern whaling. So I replaced whaling with fishing – “in case of doubt, in favor of the whale” – and created a new fish piece, which now resembled a fat goldfish rather than a whale.
In the German Kosmos edition of the expansion, an entire shoal of fish is caught instead of a single fish.
The Mission
The third scenario, “Fish for Catan,” includes two missions. One of them is “The Pirates' Lairs,” which I presented in the previous part of my E&amp;P blog post; the other mission is “Fish for Catan.”
For this scenario, the frame is extended so that the additional 6 fish shoal hexes can be placed in the unexplored areas. Each fish shoal hex depicts one side of a pipped die (representing a number between 1 and 6).
If you reveal a fish shoal hex, you receive 2 gold. During the movement phase of your ship, you have the opportunity to catch a fish haul. For this purpose, you roll a six-sided die. If an already revealed fish shoal hex depicts the number rolled, you place the fish haul on this hex. To collect the fish haul, one of your ships must reach the fish shoal hex. That is, one of the ends of your ship must point toward any of the hex's intersections. If this is the case, you may load the fish haul on your ship. Obviously, you will only roll the die if you have positioned your ships favorably.
Now you must take the fish haul to the island of the Council of Catan and deliver it there. The island of the Council of Catan is located on the east side of the starting island (D2).
If you have delivered a fish haul, you may move your marker forward one field on the victory point scoring track named “Fish for Catan.” Also in this mission a special victory point card is awarded; here, it goes to the most industrious fisherman.
The game ends when a player reaches 15 victory points on his turn.
Klaus Teuber
Read more:Part 6 – introducing the fourth scenario, “Spices for Catan.”
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:16:59 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-02-06/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-5Explorers &amp; Pirates – The New Expansion for “The Settlers of Catan” – Part 4http://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-31/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-4
Part 4: Pirate Lairs
Read part 1 » / part 2 » / part 3 »
Logbook: The Council of Catan sent our ships to an unexplored area where, as rumor had it, countries with rich gold deposits existed. Our mission was to find those gold deposits and secure them for Catan.
First, our mission led us to a large, uninhabited island. There was no gold far and wide, but the fertile island was very appropriate for establishing our initial outpost. After we had found a suitable place for a harbor and built an outpost there, we hoisted anchor and sailed further east.
After a couple of days, a shoreline emerged where a small river flowed into the sea. We followed the river and soon found the coveted metal auspiciously gleaming in the riverbed. Full of excitement, we prepared to build a settlement at the river mouth. We barely had rammed the first posts for our houses into the loamy ground, when we heard a loud rumble, and moments after a cannonball hit right in front of our ship anchored on the riverside.
Then our scout came running and informed us about a well-fortified pirate lair controlling the river - and thus, the gold it contained - at a strategically favorable location. As peaceful settlers, we were no match for the pirates bristling with weapons, so we quickly loaded our possessions on the ship and hoisted anchor. We consoled ourselves with the hope that we would discover other islands containing gold deposits.
And that's what we did. However, all the other gold fields we discovered were also controlled by pirate lairs. It almost seemed to us as if someone was playing games with us, games that were anything but funny. Since our mission was to secure the gold fields, and the hostile pirate lairs stood between us and the precious metal, there was only one solution: the pirate lairs had to disappear.
In the game, if you discover a gold field (A), you take a Pirate Lair token (B) and place it on the gold field (C). The back of each Pirate Lair token depicts a number.
To capture the pirate lairs, the players build crews. Each crew costs 1 ore and 1 wool. After you have built a crew, you place it in the basin of a harbor settlement or in a ship adjacent to a harbor settlement. The cargo bay of a ship can accommodate up to 2 crews.
When your ship - which may carry 1 or 2 crews - reaches a gold field with a pirate lair, you may place your crew(s) on the pirate lair.
As soon as one or more players have placed a total of 3 crews on the pirate lair, it is captured. Now the booty is divided: each player who participated in the capture receives 2 gold.
In addition, the mission progress is recorded on the victory point scoring track named “Pirate Lairs”: each player who participated in the capture may move his marker forward 1 field on this track. If you are elected “hero” in a dice duel (sum of number rolled and number of crews placed), you may move your marker forward yet another field – in return, however, one of your crews dies a hero's death.
The number of victory points you receive for your mission progress is depicted to the right of your marker. The player whose marker occupies the most advanced position, or in case of a tie, the player whose marker is at the bottom of the stack receives the special victory point card “Greatest Pirate Scourge.” The first player to reach 12 victory points on his turn is the winner of this scenario.
After capture, the Pirate Lair token is turned so that its number side faces up. Only now the players may build settlements at the corners of the liberated gold field. If the number of the gold field is rolled, the owner of an adjacent settlement or harbor settlement receives 2 gold.
Klaus Teuber
Read more:Part 5 – introducing the third scenario, “Fish for Catan,” and explaining why there are no whales in Catanian waters.
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:47:12 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-31/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-4Explorers &amp; Pirates – The New Expansion for “The Settlers of Catan” – Part 3http://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-25/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-3
Part 3: Land Ho! - The Introductory Game
Read part 1 » / part 2 »
The Introductory Game gives less seasoned Catanians the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the most important basic rules of the expansion. At the beginning, each player builds one settlement and one harbor settlement on predetermined intersections of the starting island. Each player places a road adjacent to his settlement and a ship loaded with a settler (settler ship) adjacent to his harbor settlement. That way, on his first turn each player can immediately move a ship toward the unexplored area.
As is usual, on your turn you roll two dice for production; the roll result applies to all players. What is new is that you receive 1 gold as compensation if a number - other than the “7” - is rolled for which you don't receive a resource.
Afterwards, you may trade and build. As a general rule, you may trade 3 resources of the same type with the bank, for any 1 different resource of your choice. In addition, up to two times during your turn you may pay 2 gold to buy any 1 resource of your choice.
In “The Settlers of Catan” Base Game, your turn ends after the trade and build phase; in “Explorers &amp; Pirates,” however, a movement phase follows. You may move each of your ships (up to 3 ships are possible) a distance of 4 sea routes (A). If, along its way, one of the ship's ends points toward the corner of an undiscovered hex, the ship's movement ends (B). The hex is then turned over and marked with a number token (C). As a reward for your discovery, you receive 1 resource of this hex (D).
If you want to speed up your ships' movement, you have to pay wool. For each wool you pay, you may extend the movement of one of your ships by 2 sea routes.
By nature, roads cannot be built on sea routes, which is why the first settlement on the coast of a discovered area can only be built with the aid of a settler ship.
If one of the ends of one of your ships loaded with a settler points toward an intersection of a terrain hex (A), you may build your settlement there. For this purpose, you return your ship together with the settler to your supply (B) and place a settlement on the intersection of the terrain hex, at no additional cost (C). Of course, when you build a settlement with the aid of a settler ship, you must also observe the distance rule.
There aren't any further additional rules the players of the Introductory Game are expected to keep in mind. If you want to win “Land Ho!” you must reach 8 victory points by building settlements and harbor settlements, which normally won't take longer than 30 minutes.
Experienced players can omit the Introductory Game and immediately take on the first mission, where the new expansion exhibits its full potential for the first time.
The Pirates
How come the new expansion is called “Explorers &amp; Pirates”? “Where the heck are the pirates?” you'll probably ask.
In the Introductory Game, the pirates don't play a role. And neither does the robber. In fact, the robber stays in his game box during all scenarios, which some Catanians definitely won't be sad about. ;-)
However, in the second scenario the pirates get their chance. On the one hand, the pirates have entrenched themselves in fortresses in the unexplored areas (more about this in the fourth part of my blog post), and on the other hand, their ships terrorize the seas.
In contrast to the Seafarers expansion, the Explorers &amp; Pirates expansion not only includes a neutral pirate ship the players can move when a “7” is rolled - in addition, each player also has a pirate ship of his color, which in due course he can use to “play pirate.”
The first player to roll a “7” places his pirate ship on a sea hex. Except for the frame pieces and the hexes around the starting island, any sea hex is allowed for this purpose. The player will probably place his pirate ship on a sea hex adjacent to which his opponents have placed as may ships as possible.
The reason is that in addition to being allowed to steal a resource from the owner of one of these ships, all adjacent ships are blocked as long as the player's pirate ship stays on this hex. It goes without saying that the ships belonging to the owner of the pirate ship – maybe we should better call him the current “friend of the pirates” – are not affected by this blockage.
What can the affected players do? There are several options:
They can patiently wait until the next “7” is rolled, because when this occurs, the player who rolled the “7” can use his pirate ship, and the “established” pirate must return his pirate ship to his supply.
The players may also pay 1 gold for each ship they want to move along the edges of the pirate hex.
The last option is to chase away the pirate ship. A player can do this with any of his ships if one of its ends points toward a corner of the pirate hex. All he has to do is roll a “6.” If he succeeds, the “friend of the pirates” must return his pirate ship to his supply, and the lucky player may gladly move his ships toward their destinations. In addition, he is now the new friend of the pirates and may use his pirate ship for his own benefit.
Klaus Teuber
Read more:Part 4 – introducing the game piece “crew” and the second scenario, “The Pirate Lairs.”
Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:26:24 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-25/explorers-pirates-new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-3The New Expansion for “The Settlers of Catan” – Part 2http://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-11/new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-2
Part 2: About Harbor Settlements, Ships, and Settlers
Read part 1 »
To play with the expansion, you need the dice, settlements, roads, resource cards, some terrain hexes, number tokens for them, and the frame pieces from the Base Game. The additional frame pieces of the expansion allow you to assemble scenarios of different sizes.
The illustration shows the smallest scenario possible. To avoid spending too much time assembling the scenarios, you tile the surface inside the frame with composites of sea hexes (sea hexes that are joined together). Thereby, three areas are formed. In the light yellow area on the left, you assemble the starting island. On the right, in the two areas to be explored, you place terrain hexes of the expansion facedown.
The two unexplored areas of the smallest scenario accommodate 16 unknown hexes, while the largest scenario includes 32 hexes to be explored.
To explore, you need ships. Building a ship costs one lumber and one wool. The ships are not only used for exploration. They also serve to transport game pieces. Each ship can accommodate either 2 small game pieces or one large game piece.
Alert readers may have asked themselves why I didn't mention cities when listing the game components required from the Base Game. I did that intentionally, because building cities is not part of the new expansion.
Instead, you can upgrade coastal settlements to harbor settlements by paying 2 grain and 2 ore. Like a city, a harbor settlement is worth 2 victory points, but its owner receives only 1 resource when the number of an adjacent terrain hex is rolled.
A harbor settlement consists of a group of houses with a basin in front of them. Like a ship, a basin offers room for either a large game piece or 2 small game pieces.
The large game pieces include the settlers, of which each player receives two.
Building a settler costs the same resources as required to build a settlement. If you have built a settler, you place him in the basin of a harbor settlement or directly on an adjacent ship.
Needless to say that the settlers' task is to found new settlements in the discovered area or on the home island. Since it is not allowed to move game pieces overland, a settler always depends on a ship that picks him up and transports him to his new home.
Klaus Teuber
Read more:Part 3 – introducing the first scenario, “Land Ho!” of the new expansion “Explorers &amp; Pirates”
Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:57:31 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-11/new-expansion-for-settlers-catan-part-2Star Trek Catan – Questions and Answershttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-03/star-trek-catan-questions-and-answers
Why isn't Star Trek Catan a remake of The Starfarers of Catan? Why do all players play on the side of the Federation? Why are there so many Enterprise starships? Why is the robber a Klingon?
These and many similar questions have kept Catanians and Trekkers busy since first details about the game were made public after Star Trek Catan was announced (see also here).
Below, I would like to answer some of these questions. First, the question that is of particular interest to Catanians:
Why did we adapt The Settlers of Catan base game to the Star Trek universe if a science-fiction Catan (which has been out of print for years) already exists?
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There are several reasons for this – the main reason being that this time we didn't want to create a new or stand-alone Catan game in the Star Trek universe, similar to „Anno 1701“. We intentionally wanted to adapt the Catan base game to the Star Trek universe – giving well-known, proven, and relatively simple game mechanics an entirely new context.
The Starfarers of Catan – German game box
Of course, Starfarers would have been appropriate, but it is a notably more challenging and longer game. After all, there's a certain intention behind combining a brand such as Catan with another brand such as Star Trek: you want to reach people the Catan games haven't been able to reach so far.
We didn't want to scare away people whose interest in Star Trek Catan is based on the Star Trek brand by offering them a Catan game that is too expansive. Another aspect is that the German edition of Starfarers wasn't an inexpensive game, and redesigning it for Star Trek definitely would not have made it more budget-friendly – in fact, the German edition of Star Trek Catan would have been considerably more pricey than the Starfarers in 1999. And that might have been even more of a deterrent than a game that is too lengthy, at least as far as the German edition is concerned. So, Starfarers wasn't an option for us.
Why do all players play “on the same side” now, as the Federation? Wouldn't it have made more sense to let them compete with each other as the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, and ... perhaps the Cardassians or the Ferengi?
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This question indeed surprised me. As a matter of fact, it isn't always love, peace, and harmony between the races within the Federation. There are countless examples of conflicts within the Federation that involve intrigue, power, riches, and ideology. And even though economic interests are rarely the subject of the series (and if they are, they play a minor part), they definitely do exist. For this reason, it even is self-evident that the players act as different members of the Federation. After all, they all settle within the same space.
The idea that Klingons, Romulans, and the Federation peacefully coexist in one space sector is almost absurd, given that we are in a time of cold war between Klingons and the Federation (the Khitomer Accords are still in the future), with a neutral zone and no diplomatic contact with the Romulans. And Klingons, Romulans, and the Federation together on one planet? That didn't work out on Nimbus III either …
The last question concerns the Klingons:
Why do they – and not the Ferengi or the Orion-Syndicate, for example – represent “the robber”?
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Well, it's easy to rule out the Ferengi. The first official contact with them isn't made until 2364 by Captain Picard, even though Captain Archer also had an encounter with the Ferengi once. Therefore, in the 23rd century the Ferengi are irrelevant.
Essentially the same also applies to the Orion Syndicate. Admittedly, the Orion Syndicate would have been a good fit, even if it only operates on the borders of Federation space. Although there is contact with the Orions during the Kirk era (the term "Orion Syndicate" isn't introduced until later), it is undeniable that the Klingons are the major enemy of this time. The term "Orion Syndicate" only means something to people with a lot of insider knowledge – and even many of them will wonder whether the Orion Syndicate already existed before the 24th century. Klingons, however, are well-known by everyone.
Are there still unanswered questions? I'll be glad to receive them as comments to this blog post and will answer them either personally or, if the questions are of general interest, in the context of another blog post.
Sebastian Rapp
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:45:17 +0100Catan-Teamhttp://www.catan.com/news/2013-01-03/star-trek-catan-questions-and-answers